The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that has a recording unit for recording data on a recorded medium and includes a transported medium having a plate form and capable to be transported and a linear transport path on which the transported medium having the plate form can be transported. Further, the present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus.
Here, the liquid ejection apparatus is not limited to a recording apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile device in which an ink jet type recording head is used and ink is ejected from the recording head to record data on a recorded medium and is employed in a sense that liquid corresponding to its use is ejected, instead of the ink, to an ejected medium corresponding to the recorded medium from a liquid ejection head corresponding to the ink jet type recording head to allow the liquid to adhere to the ejected medium.
As the liquid ejection head, exemplified are, as well as the recording head, a coloring material ejection head used for producing a color filter of a liquid crystal display, an electrode material (electric conductive paste) ejection head used for forming an electrode of an organic EL display or a face light emitting display (FED), a biological organic material ejection head used for producing a bio-chip, a sample ejection head as a precise pipette, etc.
As an ink jet printer as one example of the recording apparatus or the liquid ejection apparatus, a printer is known in which an optical disk as a thin plate shaped member such as a CD-R or a DVD is used as a recorded medium and ink droplets are directly ejected on a label surface thereof to record data. In such an ink jet printer, as disclosed in, for instance, JP-A-2005-104136, the thin plate shaped member such as the optical disk is set on a tray as a transported medium having a plate form and is transported (a sub-scanning feed) on a transport path in the ink jet printer under a state that the plate shaped member is set to perform an ink recording on the label surface.
Further, in a front part of the device of the ink jet printer, as disclosed in the JP-A-2005-104136, a tray guide as a guide unit for guiding the tray is provided, the tray on which the optical disk is set is inserted into the inner part of the device from an upper part of the tray guide, and then, after the recording on the optical disk is completed, the optical disk is ejected to the tray guide.
Under a state that the tray is nipped by a transport driving roller and a transport follower roller provided in the upstream side of a recording head, the transport driving roller rotates to sub-scanning feed the tray. Accordingly, to allow the tray to be sub-scanning fed by the transport driving roller and the transport follower roller, after the tray is inserted from the upper part of the tray guide, an end of the tray needs to enter a part between the transport driving roller and the transport follower roller.
This operation is carried out in such a way, as shown in JP-A-2002-355956, that a unit (release) for separating the transport follower roller from the transport driving roller is provided, the transport follower roller is separated from the transport driving roller by the operation of a user, then, the tray is inserted from the upper part of the tray guide, and then, after the end of the tray reaches the part between the transport driving roller and the transport follower roller, the transport follower roller is returned to an original position.
Here, a sheet ejection unit provided in the downstream side of the recording head includes an ejecting driving roller that is rotated and driven and an ejecting follower roller that is driven and rotated in contact with the ejecting driving roller. As the ejecting follower roller, a toothed roller (a spur roller) having teeth on its outer periphery is used to prevent the void of ink or ink from rolling and adhering.
Accordingly, for instance, when a pressing roller for pressing the tray toward the ejecting driving roller is separately provided from the ejecting follower roller in the side of the tray guide with respect to the ejecting follower roller and the tray is fed to the transport driving roller and the transport follower roller by rotating the ejecting driving roller so that the end of the tray can enter the part between the transport driving roller and the transport follower roller, the unit for releasing the transport follower roller form the transport driving roller is not necessary. Thus, a cost can be lowered and a serviceability of a user can be improved.
In this case, since the bottom surface of the tray needs to assuredly come into contact with the ejecting driving roller, the ejecting driving roller needs to be arranged at a position slightly higher than a support surface of the tray guide for supporting the tray. However, in such a structure, when the tray is inserted from the upper part of the tray guide, since the tray is pressed by the pressing roller from an upper part when the end of the tray reaches the ejecting driving roller, the end of the tray abuts on (collides with) the ejecting driving roller. That is, an uneasy “hooked feeling” is caused when the tray is inserted.
Further, since the tray is pressed by the pressing roller until the end of the tray reaches the ejecting driving roller, the pressing force thereof is exerted on the tray guide so that there is a fear that the position of the tray guide is changed from an adequate horizontal position to an inadequate inclined position.